The present invention relates to a wheelchair system, and more specifically to a wheelchair system which permits the chair to be easily separated from the wheeled chassis and properly positioned as desired on an automobile seat.
Heretofore there have been provided many mechanisms for transferring handicapped persons with little or no mobility into an automobile. Prior art devices include slings which are supported from hanging arms and which may position a person over a car seat and lower the person onto the seat. Because of the limited area provided for entrance into a car it is exceedingly difficult to maneuver a person into a car with such devices. Furthermore, of course, there is the additional difficulty in placing a patient in such a sling and removing the sling after transport.
There have been developed wheelchairs which permit the transfer of a person from a wheeled supporting frame into a vehicle or for bringing the entire wheelchair into the vehicle. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,278,387; 4,170,368; 4,365,924; 4,354,791; 3,515,294; 3,865,427 and 4,483,653 are typical wheelchair designs of this type. All of these prior art devices require some modification of the structure of the automobile. These modifications include complete removal of the car seat, insertion of rotatable support arms within the car or insertion of trackways in the car seat.
A satisfactory wheelchair which permits the chair to be separated from the wheeled chassis and supported on an automobile seat, which requires no modification whatsoever of an automobile so that a person utilizing a wheelchair manufactured in accordance therewith may be transferred into any automobile quickly and easily without in any way altering the structure of the car, and which thus overcomes many of the problems noted above is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,669,943. The present invention is an improvement over this prior art wheelchair. The disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 4,669,943 is hereby incorporated by reference.
In accordance with the present invention, a wheelchair system for supporting a handicapped person and for transferring the handicapped person in the wheelchair through an automobile door opening and onto an automobile seat with no assistance from the handicapped person is provided. The wheelchair system includes a wheeled chassis having front and rear ends and being of a height to permit the front end of the chassis to be rolled beneath an automobile door opening. This wheeled chassis includes a horizontally extending base member, and a rotatable mounting means for rotatably mounting a front end of the base member to the front end of the chassis for rotation about a vertical axis. The rotatable mounting means includes a first actuating linkage by which the base member is rotated and a first driven member at an end of the first actuating linkage by which the first actuating linkage is rotated to incrementally rotate the base member as desired.
The wheelchair system of the present invention also includes a chair supporting frame located centrally of the chassis and removably mounted on a rear end of the base member. This chair supporting frame includes a vertically extending support member, and an adjusting means for vertically adjusting a position of the support member with respect to the base member. A handle assembly is also removably mounted to the rear end of the chassis. This handle assembly includes a second linkage for rotating the first driven member of the rotatable mounting means. This second linkage includes a removable driving member which removably connects to the first driven member of the rotatable member as the handle is removed and connected to the chassis, and a second driven member at an end of the second linkage opposite to the removable driving member.
A removable mounting means is further provided for removably mounting a chair in which the handicapped person sits in a cantilevered manner on an upper end of the vertically extending support member in vertical spaced relation to the wheeled chassis and in a position substantially overlying a length of the base member. With this construction, (a) when the chassis is rolled beneath an automobile door opening, the chair is positioned over the automobile seat, (b) when the chair is positioned over an automobile seat, the chair is then lowered onto the automobile seat and the chair supporting frame is disconnected from the chair, and (c) when the chair is separated from the chair supporting frame and the chassis, the chair supporting frame, the chassis and the handle assembly are then separated from one another for easy carrying and stowage (especially in a car trunk).
In a preferred embodiment of the wheelchair system, the handle assembly includes a pair of vertically extending support bars with free distal ends between which the second linkage is mounted. In addition, the chassis includes a handle mounting means for removably mounting the handle assembly to the chassis. This handle mounting means includes a pair of vertical support brackets having holes in which respective ones of the distal ends of the handle support bars are received.
Also in a preferred embodiment, the adjusting means includes an actuation member which is rotated to cause the position of the chair to move vertically and a portable electric driver having a driving tool which removably connects with the actuation member to rotate the actuation member. This portable electric driver is also easily carried and stowed. Further, the second driven member is a manual turning wheel located at a top of the handle assembly by which the removable driving member of the second linkage is easily rotated to cause the base member and hence the chair mounted thereon to rotate independent of the vertical positioning of the chair.
Further in a preferred embodiment, the chair includes rollers on a bottom thereof mounted for allowing the chair to easily roll sideways on a flat surface. Then, a flat chair plate is provided which is placed on the automobile seat and which is engaged by the rollers of the chair so as to facilitate movement of the chair into and out of the automobile. In addition, the chair includes a detachable left side which is removed once the handicapped person in seated on the car seat so as to facilitate use of a seat belt by the handicapped person. To provide the removable left side, the chair includes a left side frame member extending horizontally having a plurality of vertical holes therein, and the detachable left side includes a plurality of stub shafts extending vertically downwards therefrom which are removably received in respective ones of the plurality of vertical holes of the left side frame member in order to detachably mount the left side to the left side frame member.
Still further in a preferred embodiment, the wheelchair system includes a foot rest, a foot rest mounting means for mounting the foot rest to the chair for movement in a vertical plane, and a remote foot rest adjustment means for incrementally adjusting and holding the foot rest vertically relative to the chair from a position remote from the foot rest. Thus, the foot rest is adjustable so that the legs of the person are easily moved out of the way of the automobile as the chair is positioned through the automobile door opening and onto the automobile seat.
In the preferred embodiment, the foot rest mounting means includes a mounting bar mounted horizontally for rotation at a front of a seat of the chair and to which the foot rest is attached and a lever attached to one end of the mounting bar. In addition, the remote foot rest adjustment means includes a third linkage connected to the lever, a third driven member located remote from the foot rest which is rotated to activate the third linkage and hence to move the lever and the associated mounting bar incrementally for adjustment and holding of the foot rest, and a portable electric driver having a driving tool which removably connects with the third driven member to rotate the third driven member, which portable electric driver is also easily carried and stowed.
In this preferred embodiment, the remote foot rest adjustment means is mounted to the chair; and the third driven member is located adjacent an armrest of the chair. In addition, the third linkage includes a flexible cord attached at one end to the lever and a spool to which the other end of the flexible cord is attached and about which the flexible cord is wound/unwound to adjust and hold the foot rest. Further, the foot rest mounting means includes a single mounting arm extending from the mounting bar to the foot rest.
It is an object of the present invention is to provide a wheelchair for handicapped persons in which the chair may be positioned on the seat of an automobile while attached to the wheeled chassis of the wheelchair and in which the chair can be subsequently disconnected from the wheeled chassis.
It is another object of the present invention is to provide a wheelchair having a supporting structure which may be readily disassembled and stored when the chair is being used by a person being transported in an automobile. There are two advantages which result from the ease of disassembly of the wheelchair. First, the chair may be easily stored in a car trunk. Second, by being able to separate the chassis, the chair frame, and the handle, the separate parts are lighter and easier to lift.
Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein: